


A Crow's Voice

by cara1317



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 02:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cara1317/pseuds/cara1317
Summary: “I guess we’ll find out by next year, right?” He shrugs. “Plus, I don't think we did that horrible of a job that they'll fall to pieces,” he half-jokes.Shimizu hums. “Even the crow sings with its own voice.”---a goodbye piece for my wonderful Karasuno third years[ Written for the Farewell E-Zine! ]





	A Crow's Voice

****Suga arrives first, so he climbs up onto the rooftop ledge, settling himself cross-legged and leaning against the brick wall to tilt his face up toward the sun. It feels good, to finally enjoy the warm sunshine after the seemingly-endless number of exams and projects that come with the end of the school year.

“Hey,” comes a familiar voice. Suga opens his eyes. Daichi’s half-walking, half-jogging towards him, one hand awkwardly tucked behind his back. “Sorry I’m late.”

“No, don’t worry,” Suga returns. He pats the concrete next to him, sending Daichi a teasing smile. “I saved you a spot.”

Daichi rolls his eyes, but hops up anyways, managing to balance himself without his hands.

“Show-off. What’ve you got there, mister?”

Daichi reddens, but holds out a carefully tied bouquet of flowers. “So, I know it’s a little silly, but I wanted to give you something. Even though we’re graduating together, we’re going to different colleges, so I’m still going to have to say goodbye to you,” he admits.

“Aww, you didn’t have to, Daichi.” He accepts the flowers, and he’s fairly sure that the warmth on the back of his neck isn’t from the sun.

Daichi shrugs, pulling his legs up to mirror Suga’s position.

Suga touches the petals of a pink blossom. “What’s this one?”

“Sweet pea. It’s supposed to mean goodbye, and thank you.”

Suga smiles. “And lily of the valley, right?” He turns the flowers gently, the white bells gracefully sloping against their stem. “What does that one mean?”

“Humility, and sweetness, and, uh, ‘you’ve made my life complete.’”

Suga looks up at him.

“Daichi…”

Daichi shrugs again, his fingers anxiously drumming against the outside of his knee. Suga reaches a hand out to stop it, grasping Daichi’s hand with his own. He squeezes.

“You know this isn’t goodbye, really, right?”

“I know, but--”

“There’s FaceTime, and phone calls, and texts… heck, even old fashioned letters!” He ducks his head a little to catch Daichi’s gaze. “We’ll find a way to make it work, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Daichi says, nodding his head a little. He turns his hand over to squeeze Suga’s hand back. “We’ll make it work.”

“Good. And now that we’ve gotten that covered, we should head to the club room.” He untangles his legs and slips off the ledge, tugging at Daichi’s hand. “I hear the team’s got a little surprise for us.”

“What, as captains?”

Suga gives him a look. “No, as third-years, silly. Asahi and Shimizu are meeting us there.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Daichi says, scrambling to get down from the ledge. “I keep forgetting that we aren’t captains anymore.”

“It’s okay. After years as team dad, it’s only natural that you can only imagine the team as your kids. An old habit, I’d assume.”

Daichi stops. “Are you saying I’m old?”

Suga gasps, shaking his head in a dramatic ‘no.’ He swallows his giggles at Daichi’s mock-offended expression, preferring to pull Daichi along by the hand as they make their way across the roof.

 

***

 

When they reach the door to the club room, it’s quiet. Too quiet. Suspiciously quiet, really. He and Daichi exchange looks, bracing themselves before pushing open the door. Party blowers blare, the lights are flicked on, and several voices shout “SURPRISE!” in varying degrees of loudness.

“Wow! What’s all this?” Suga already knows, of course, but he can tell that Hinata is dying to tell them.

At his question, Hinata runs over, bouncing in place as he all but shouts, “A party! To celebrate you and Asahi-san and Daichi-san and Kiyoko-san on graduating!”

Kageyama crosses the room, shoving Hinata’s head down, who yelps.

“Stupid, don’t yell in their faces.” He gives a little half bow, his free arm stiff at his side. “Sorry for the mess, Sugawara-san, Sawamura-san.”

Suga looks down at the floor, noticing for the first time the colourful pieces of paper littering the ground. Mentally, he sighs.

Daichi nudges him. “Hey,” he says, voice low enough that the others won’t hear, “We aren’t captains anymore. Guess it’s Ennoshita’s mess to clean up now.”

Suga breathes out a grateful sigh, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Daichi.

“Old habits die hard, huh?”

“Oh, shut it, you.”

Daichi grins back at him, before turning to Kageyama and Hinata to pry them apart -- they’ve started squabbling in the two seconds they’d been left alone -- and to reassure Yachi that yes, it’s alright that the team had already thrown the confetti when Asahi arrived because no, they couldn’t have known that they weren’t with Asahi.

Suga shakes his head before making his way over to Ennoshita, who’s looking a bit overwhelmed at what will be his future responsibilities for the next year. He claps Ennoshita on the shoulder firmly, who jumps a little, then looks a little relieved to see Suga’s familiar smile.

“Oh, hi, Sugawara-san.”

“Drop the ‘-san’ already, Ennoshita, it’s been two years, please.”

“Right, sorry, sorry.”

“You worried?”

Ennoshita draws in a breath, forcing the air out through his nose. “Yeah, a little.”

“Don’t be. You’re going to do just great.”

The corner of Ennoshita’s mouth quirks up a little, and Suga reckons that might be the biggest smile he’s seen from Ennoshita yet.

“Well, we’ll see how it goes. Me and Tanaka?”

They both look over at Tanaka, who’s currently stuffing grapes into his mouth like a chipmunk, to Noya’s absolute delight -- if the cheers and sparkling eyes are anything to go by -- and Asahi’s horror, although he can’t seem to pull his eyes away from the scene.

Suga stifles a laugh and jabs Ennoshita lightly, who immediately coughs, rubbing the spot under his ribs gingerly. Oops. Not so lightly, then.

“Too much?” he says, wincing as Ennoshita coughs again.

“Yeah,” he wheezes. “That’s one thing I won’t miss about you being gone.”

Suga offers him a half-grin, lifting his hands up as if to plead innocent.

Ennoshita shakes his head again, straightening up. “Really, though, I don’t know what we’ll do next year without all four of you.”

“You’ll be fine, really. The team is stronger than ever.” He nods towards the first years, who are eagerly grouped around Yachi as she lights the candles on the cake. “As for you and Tanaka, we knew you two would work well together.” Ennoshita makes a small noise of surprise, but Suga continues. “You’re levelheaded, he’s energetic, you’ve got good plays, he’ll motivate the team. The two of you balance out well, and you can definitely learn from each other. Trust me, it won’t be as hard as you think.”

“I suppose you’re right, in a way,” Ennoshita muses. He sets his jaw, determined. “You and Sawamura-san have never led us wrong, so if you really think so, I trust your judgement.” He bows his head briefly. “Thank you for this year, Sugawara. It was a pleasure working with all of you.”

Suga can’t resist ruffling his hair. “Loosen up a little, Ennoshita. Next year is your last year -- you’d better enjoy it!”

Ennoshita straightens up, his eyes flashing. “I won’t let you down!”

They talk for a little longer after that, before Ennoshita is called to his captainly duties: namely, preventing Hinata from setting anything on fire or crashing through the walls of the club room.

Suga sits on the floor by the table, propping his head up on his hand. Watching their team squabble and bicker, all the while laughing it off, he sighs. They might be a bit of a ragtag team, but their bond is strong through and through. He can sense someone coming over to him, so he shuffles sideways on the mat in order to make space.

Shimizu kneels on the mat next to him, graceful as ever.

“Shimizu,” he greets.

She nods back at him with a smile.

They sit and observe the ruckus in comfortable silence, before Shimizu breaks the silence.

“I’ll miss this.”

“It's… weird,” Suga admits, “that we’ll be gone next year and that they’ll all be stepping up into our roles.”

“I know they can handle it, I just can't imagine them doing it in just a few months.” Shimizu shakes her head gently. “I suppose it's mostly thinking about them changing, becoming more mature, that…”

“...Makes you wonder if we’ve been doing things right ourselves?” Suga offers.

She nods, her eyes still trained on the rambunctious activities of their teammates.

“I guess we’ll find out by next year, right?” He shrugs. “Plus, I don't think we did _that_ horrible of a job that they'll fall to pieces,” he half-jokes.

Shimizu hums. “Even the crow sings with its own voice.” At Suga’s questioning noise, she elaborates, “It's a Finnish saying. Everyone has a talent, even if it doesn't seem amazing at first, it's still special. And to use it at all, despite adversity or criticism for others, is to succeed. I thought it was fitting, since we _are_ a murder and all.”

“A murder?!”

“A group of crows is called a murder.”

“Wow, even I didn't know that.”

Shimizu smiles to herself. “Crows were my favourite animal when I was younger, that's all. I would read every book about them that I could get my hands on.”

“Huh. I guess Karasuno was the right place for you after all. I mean, where else could you join a murder and still be innocent?”

Shimizu rolls her eyes and pushes him, the two of them laughing.

They might not all be in the same place next year, but Suga knows that deep down, the team will always have something that keeps them together.

 

***

 

They all gather around the table, crouching to accommodate its low height. Despite it being none of their birthdays, the team insists on boisterously singing happy birthday, the effort of pronouncing the words in English making it a little stilted, a little awkward, but so characteristically _their team_ that Suga feels like crying.

Daichi seems to be having the same struggle, hastily rubbing at his eyes before tears can spill over.

Asahi definitely fares worse, the tears openly streaming down his face. Noya tackles him in a hug, and then everyone is piling together in a big group hug, save for Kiyoko and Yachi, who snap a couple photos and, amidst the chaos, promise to send them later.

 

***

 

Later, when the festivities wind down, the team lines up in front of the four of them. Hinata and Yachi whisper together furiously, before Yachi steps forward with four boxes in her arms.

“Sawamura-san, thank you for being our captain. You worked very hard to bring us all together and we hope to continue the great leadership you have put forth!” She bows a little, and the team joins in, voicing their agreement as she presents him the box labeled with his name.

She turns. “Sugawara-san, you worked tirelessly with the team and inspired us to work hard, on and off the court! Thank you for your leadership!” Again, she bows and passes him his gift.

“Azumane-san,” she says, looking up, “thank you for being our ace! You are the best ace ever!” Her hands tremble a little, but her voice is clear when she shouts, “Thank you for giving the team the backbone it needed!”

Asahi’s lip trembles, tears welling up in his eyes again, and he can only nod and accept the present and the offered tissue from her.

Lastly, Yachi faces Kiyoko and quiets down a little, her brown eyes earnest. “Kiyoko-san, thank you for inviting me to be a part of the team. I’m glad to have learned from a mentor like you and I hope to one day manage the team as well as you have!”

She hands Kiyoko the final gift, and steps back to stand with the line. Softly, she counts to three, and the team all bow at the waist.

“Thank you for being part of our team!”

The rest of them echo the sentiment loudly: “Thank you for being part of our team!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Drop a kudos or comment to receive my undying love ♡
> 
> And a big thank you to CC [@ohohohobro](https://ohohohobro.tumblr.com/) and Amber [@tobioslilgiant](https://tobioslilgiant.tumblr.com/) for running the [Farewell Zine](https://farewellzine.tumblr.com/) (I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!) and to [@eliyachi](eliyachi.tumblr.com/) who helped them host this secondary free e-zine version, which you can download [HERE](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwgxt4mREmghVkJ4YmlkYTZLWXc/view) via Google Drive!
> 
> Be sure to look for the AMAZING art that Don Jam [@studyingpasta](studyingpasta.tumblr.com/) drew to go along with this fic!


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